The Wall › Panel 48E › Louisiana › Charlie Bernard Thomas

CHARLIE BERNARD THOMAS

Corporal · U.S. Army

September 10, 1946 – April 4, 1968

Service record

Charlie Bernard Thomas, of Ethel, Louisiana, served as a Corporal in the U.S. Army. He died on April 4, 1968, in Quang Tri Province, South Vietnam, at age 21. His name is inscribed on Panel 48E, Line 12 of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.

On the Wall

Panel 48E · Line 12

Position of Panel 48E on the Vietnam Veterans Memorial

Names are inscribed in the order of loss, starting at Panel 1E at the apex and ending at Panel 1W. At the Memorial, find the panel number at the base and count down from the top line.

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Service

Branch: U.S. Army
Rank: Corporal (CPL)
Service: Drafted (Selective Service)
Occupation: Utility Helicopter Repairer (67N)
Unit (as recorded): 1 CAV DIV AIRMOBILE
Born: September 10, 1946
Home of record: Ethel, Louisiana

Casualty

Date of death: April 4, 1968
Age: 21
Province: Quang Tri
Country: South Vietnam
Casualty type: Hostile
Category: Killed in Action
Circumstance: Helicopter Crash — crew

Context · from the records

What was happening

73 names on the Wall carry the date April 4, 1968; 25 of them were lost in Quảng Trị Province. In April 1968, 1,580 Americans whose names are on the Wall died in the war.

The 1st Cavalry Division (Airmobile), his unit in the record, lost 134 of its members that month.

He died in Quảng Trị Province while the siege of Khe Sanh was under way. From 21 January 1968, North Vietnamese divisions besieged the Marine combat base at Khe Sanh and its hill outposts near the Laotian border for 77 days, while U.S. aircraft dropped some 100,000 tons of bombs around it. Operation Pegasus reached the base on 8 April. The casualty record gives the province and date, not the exact place, so it does not say whether he fell in the battle itself.

Read the history

On the Wall

Elsewhere

Also on Panel 48E, Line 12

LARS PEDER SUNDELLPrivate First Class · April 4, 1968
EDWARD LAWRENCE TOWSLEEPrivate First Class · April 4, 1968
FAUSTINO TREVINOPrivate First Class · April 4, 1968
STEVE MAURICE TRIVELPIECECorporal · April 4, 1968

Same unit, same day

TERRY LEE BAXTERSpecialist Five · Panel 47E, Line 58
MATTHEW JOSEPH BUONOPrivate First Class · Panel 47E, Line 59
JOHN LUTHER CHAMBERSSpecialist Four · Panel 48E, Line 1
JOE MICHAEL MORANWarrant Officer 1 · Panel 48E, Line 7
DAVID ARTHUR PETERSCaptain · Panel 48E, Line 9
RONALD GENE PHEARSWarrant Officer 1 · Panel 48E, Line 9
ROBERT LESLIE RUNKLELieutenant Colonel · Panel 48E, Line 10
DAVID LEIGH WILLIAMSPrivate First Class · Panel 48E, Line 13

Source. U.S. Department of Defense, Defense Casualty Analysis System, Vietnam Conflict Extract Data File (as of April 29, 2008), Records of the Office of the Secretary of Defense, Record Group 330, National Archives (NAID 2240992). Panel and line as recorded in that file. This page presents the official record and its historical context; no biography has been written for him yet. See something wrong? Report a correction.